How Osun will fund 2021 budget – Finance Commissioner

▪︎Says state will look inwards to achieve a greater Osun

By Richard Akintade, Osogbo

Osun State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Bola Oyebamiji, has hinted on how the state intended to fund its 2021 budget, saying there would be a revenue optimization while less premium would be given to the federal allocation in the quest to deliver a greater Osun.

He said the state, among other things, specifically intended to cut down on the cost of governance and reform the procurement procedure which would enhance simplification for increased transparency and ease of doing buisness.

The Commissioner who said the state would also continue to adhere strictly to the Treasury Single Account(TSA) policy to block leakages stated these on Thursday while fielding questions from journalists in his office.

The financial expert also added that the state would focus on its debt sustainability as well as boost infrastructure financing which will attract investors and grow the local economy of the state in line with the development agenda of Governor Gboyega Oyetola.

According to the chartered banker, “We are working to ensure that the State of Osun becomes the best place to live, work and do buisness because we know that this will have a multiplier effect on our economy. Governor Oyetola is leading the team to deliver a greater Osun and we at the Ministry of Finance are aligning to his agenda.

“We have actually based our budget on what we can generate Internally just as we have been doing for some time, revenue from the federation account is no longer reliable because of the sharp drop in the prices of crude as well as the pandemic.

“So we are looking inward to fund our budget, we are going to optimize our revenue generation by over 100% and we are also going to speedily reform our procurement procedures for increased transparency and ease of doing buisness.

“Human capital investment is another very important area we are looking at, it is our belief that if the people are skilled and can work efficiently, it will have a positive effect on our revenue.

“So we are looking in this direction, we will go into more human capital investment to shore up revenue to fund our budget.

“Our debt sustainability is something we will take seriously while infrastructure financing will also be given adequate attention to attract investors just as we aim to fast track process reforms for the state to do well in the State Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability Programme (SFTAS).”